Police Informants allowed to drive illegally

If you are a police informant you are allowed to drive your improper vehicle without plates, insurance, inspection, and a driver's license if you beat up people and terrorize them out of towns for police. [This disturbing video] is how things have worked and still work.

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Hartford Courant piece about the Connecticut State Police:

Excerpt: Sgt. Andrew Crumbie squarely placed responsibility for alleged racism within the state police on his department's top administration during a state legislative hearing Tuesday, saying the same people have been in charge of the agency for years.

During the hearing before members of the legislature's black and Latino caucus over allegations of racism within the state police and the Department of Correction, Crumbie said changes can only be made from the top down.

"The people in charge of this agency are the very same people who have had complaints of racism lodged against them," Crumbie said. "These very same people are advising this new commissioner. If you are dipping into a well of dirty water, you are going to get dirty water every time." [more]

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Police informants are used to continue separate and unequal. Police target citizens using police informants, they are often terrorized out of their homes, out of town, out of the state. An example of the Connecticut State Police secret "Enemies List" [click here]

Woman jailed for 3 years for complaining that family court is unfair

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Police hire informants to kill

This should be old news. It is not. If it was this bad back in 1994 and there is more police power, the courts suppress any rights you thought you had, and electronic surveillance has increased beyond the imagination, how much worse can it get?

Police are lobbying for, and got, GPS tagged driver's licenses. All you need do, is be anywhere, in a group, in a car, in any building, at meeting, have a clue, or speak out, they got you. The national ID, driver's license: [click here]

Police informants don't need to have a driver's license, a registered car, or insurance to drive on the road. They are sanctioned by police to beat up citizens, terrorize them out of town, and even to commit murder. Informants are expected to intimidate witnesses, help with false allegations, and bogus police reports. Informants are also expected to help retaliate against those that lodge police misconduct complaints. Is your state as bad and corrupt as Connecticut? [video]

Typical Connecticut State Police misconduct [post]. Collusion with prostitutes, putting rat traps in each other's mailboxes, death threats, and thefts, it's all a day in the life of the Connecticut State Police.

* * * *

This is why the greedy seek election:

Steal you blind, Connecticut

Connecticut State Sen. Thomas Gaffey

Excerpt: Top Republicans are calling for an investigation into Democratic state Sen. Thomas Gaffey's personal relationship with a high-ranking official of the state university system as Gaffey was pushing for a controversial $1 billion state bonding package for those schools.

There is a National ID System in the works behind your back and in your face.

The "Watchers" can watch for you watching them. Then there is retaliation, false arrest, and you are held without a hearing as a political prisoner.

* * * *Should the Statue of Liberty be facing the other way?

file photo

Police pay "informants" money to get bigger fish. Informants allegedly can keep half of drug buy money and half the drugs they buy. Police will even pay their informants $10,000 cash to kill citizens that make police misconduct complaints. [more]

* * * *

Felon police informant on probation, David J. Taylor, stabs US Marine Stephen Murzin 13 times along with two bystanders. Murzin is arrested in the hospital for breach of peace for having been stabbed. A Connecticut judge found no reason to see that Taylor was violated on probation for attempted murder.

Both Stephen Murzin and his brother Ian were abducted by Colchester and Troop K Connecticut State Police to be brought down to Troop K to be beaten. 17 year old Ian was allegedly stangled to death by a State Trooper and then revived. [more]

Friday, January 25, 2008

Should this paper trail put Hillary Clinton behind bars?

Elena Sassower of http://www.judgewatch.org/ notified Hillary Clinton about the corruption of Federal Judge Richard C. Wesley, then a nominee. Notifying Hillary Clinton of corruption in the courts can land a citizen in prison, held as a political prisoner. Should a lawyer such as Hillary Clinton be elected US President, possibly doing even worse damage than George W. Bush?

Should US Constitution protected Free Speech and Redress of Grievances to elected officials land a citizen in prison in the US? Does the First Amendment and the US Constitution still apply in America? Have lawyers, judges, and elected officials rendered the US Constitution to toilet paper?

Monday, January 21, 2008

Do elected officials in Connecticut only serve themselves and the rich?

by Christine Stuart | January 18, 2008 9:08 AM Posted to State Capitol

CTNJ file photo

The General Assembly will convene its special session to reform the criminal justice system at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

While legislators don’t yet agree on three-strikes legislation, they do agree on a number of reforms that don’t require large budget appropriations. According to the Office of Fiscal Analysis the proposal is estimated to cost about $6.3 million in 2008 and $17.7 million in 2009. [more]

I have the word from a reliable source that Kearns has been let go from his duty as a Homeland Security operative at the Seymour, CT, High.

Did the below youtube videos have anything to do with Kearns being fired?

Homeland Security arrests kid over stolen sandwich at school

Text with video:There are police officers and Homeland Security operatives in High Schools such as in Seymour, Connecticut. Parent Stephen Murzin talks about police and Homeland Security Officer abusing kids in schools. Stephen Murzin fears being arrested when he attends a school committee meeting in Seymour Connecticut next Monday. The Homeland Security Officer told Murzin that citizen aren't to question Homeland Security and Police procedures in schools and if he calls the school or comes on school property he will be arrested.

A boy was very hungry and stole a sandwich wrap. The boy was taunted by the police officer and Homeland Security Officer asking the boy, "Aren't you hungry, would you like a bite of this sandwich." So the officers were "tampering with evidence."

Instead of kids getting detentions and even suspensions for passing notes and taking food without permission, children and teens are being arrested by Homeland Security and Police in schools. Seymour, CT, High is in an average town and is primarily White. Kids and teens are being interrogated, harassed, ridiculed, and have their rights abused by police and Homeland Security.

Should 13 year old girls be pulled into a room with a police officer and a 6'5" Homeland Security Officer to explain passing notes, asked if they are lesbians, and then arrested for assault if they lunge forward to rip up papers on a desk, the "evidence". Is it believable that a huge man would fear a little 13 year old lunging forward to rip up papers to want her arrested for assaulting a Homeland Security Officer?

Do we pay our taxes so that more and more rights are taken away and so more thugs can investigate us, interrogate us, arrest, and imprison more and more citizens.

What lessons are these kids learning about Freedom, Free Speech, and America?

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Machine Guns, Bombs dropped from Airplanes- Corporate America warring on the working man in America

"Redneck" was first coined in West Virginia for the red bandannas Unionized minors wore to recognize other Union miners in scuffles. The first "Rednecks", Union coal miners marched on a non-union town. The corporate style coal mine owners hired "detectives" of a private army, along with army and National Guard regulars, to take machine guns, use airplanes to drop bombs, to kill, maim, and detain miners armed with hunting rifles and small caliber handguns.

As the intimidation by mine guards increased, national labor leaders, including Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, began arriving on the scene. Jones, a native of Ireland, was already a major force in the American labor movement before first coming to West Virginia during the 1897 strikes. Although she reported the year of her birth as 1830, recent research indicates she was probably born in 1845. As a leader of the UMWA's efforts to organize the state, Jones became known for her fiery (and often obscene) verbal attacks on coal operators and politicians.

Not only did the UMWA send speechmakers, it also contributed large amounts of weapons and ammunition. On September 2, Governor William E. Glasscock imposed martial law, dispatching 1,200 state militia to disarm both the miners and mine guards. Over the course of the strike, Glasscock sent in troops on three different occasions.

Both sides committed violent acts, the most notorious of which occurred on the night of February 7, 1913. An armored train, nicknamed the "Bull Moose Special," led by coal operator Quin Morton and Kanawha County Sheriff Bonner Hill, rolled through a miners' tent colony at Holly Grove on Paint Creek. Mine guards opened fire from the train, killing striker Cesco Estep. After the incident, Morton supposedly wanted to "go back and give them another round." Hill and others talked him out of it. In retaliation, miners attacked a mine guard encampment at Mucklow, present Gallagher. In a battle which lasted several hours, at least sixteen people died, mostly mine guards.

On February 13, Mother Jones was placed under house arrest at Pratt for inciting to riot. Despite the fact she was at least sixty-eight years old and suffering from pneumonia, Governor Glasscock refused to release her. On March 4, Henry D. Hatfield was sworn in as governor. Hatfield, a physician, personally examined Jones, but kept her under house arrest for over two months. During this same period, he released over thirty other individuals who had been arrested under martial law.

On April 14, Hatfield issued a series of terms for settlement of the strike, including a nine-hour work day (already in effect elsewhere in the state), the right to shop in stores other than those owned by the company, the right to elect union checkweighmen, and the elimination of discrimination against union miners. On April 25, he ordered striking miners to accept his terms or face deportation from the state. Paint Creek miners accepted the contract while those on Cabin Creek remained on strike. The settlement failed to answer the two primary grievances: the right to organize and the removal of mine guards. After additional violence on Cabin Creek, that strike was settled toward the end of July. The only gain was the removal of Baldwin- Felts detectives as mine guards from both Paint and Cabin creeks. [click here for more]

...

In late summer 1921, a series of events destroyed the UMWA's tenuous hold in southern West Virginia. On August 1, Sid Hatfield, who had been acquitted of his actions in the "Matewan Massacre," was to stand trial for a shooting at the Mohawk coal camp in McDowell County. As he and a fellow defendant, Ed Chambers, walked up the steps of the McDowell County Courthouse in Welch, shots rang out. Hatfield and Chambers were murdered by Baldwin-Felts detectives.

As a result of the Matewan Massacre, Hatfield had become a hero to many of the miners. On August 7, a crowd varyingly estimated from 700 to 5,000 gathered on the capitol grounds in Charleston to protest the killing. Among others, UMWA's leaders Frank Keeney and Bill Blizzard urged the miners to fight. Over the next two weeks, Keeney travelled around the state, calling for a march on Logan. On August 20, miners began assembling at Marmet. Mother Jones, sensing the inevitable failure of the mission, tried to discourage the miners. At one point, she held up a telegram, supposedly from President Warren G. Harding, in which he offered to end the mine guard system and help the miners if they did not march. Keeney told the miners he had checked with the White House and the telegram was a fake. To this day, it is uncertain who was lying.

On August 24, the march began as approximately 5,000 men crossed Lens Creek Mountain. The miners wore red bandanas, which earned them the nickname, "red necks." In Logan County, Don Chafin mobilized an army of deputies, mine guards, store clerks, and state police.

Meanwhile, after a request by Governor Morgan for federal troops, President Harding dispatched World War I hero Henry Bandholtz to Charleston to survey the situation. On the 26th, Bandholtz and the governor met with Keeney and Mooney and explained that if the march continued, the miners and UMWA leaders could be charged with treason. That afternoon, Keeney met a majority of the miners at a ballfield in Madison and instructed them to turn back. As a result, some of the miners ended their march. However, two factors led many to continue. First, special trains promised by Keeney to transport the miners back to Kanawha County were late in arriving. Second, the state police raided a group of miners at Sharples on the night of the 27th, killing two. In response, many miners began marching toward Sharples, just across the Logan County line. [click here for more]

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How do modern corrupt government officials take care of internal whistle blowers? [click here for video]

Is Corporate Brazil saying Whites are more attractive?

Excerpt: Brazil has more people of African descent than any country outside of Africa, half the population is said to be either black or mixed race, and the absence of black models on Brazilian catwalks is an issue that has been raised by some influential voices. [more from the BBC]

What???!!!

NEW YORK -- A construction worker has filed a lawsuit claiming that when he went to a hospital after being hit on the forehead by a falling wooden beam, emergency room staffers forcibly gave him a rectal examination.

Brian Persaud, 38, said in court papers that after he denied a request by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital emergency room employees to examine his rectum, he was "assaulted, battered and falsely imprisoned."

His lawyer, Gerrard M. Marrone, said Tuesday that his client was injured while working at a construction site in midtown Manhattan on May 20, 2003, and at the hospital later he got eight stitches for a cut over his eyebrow.

Then, Marrone said, emergency room staffers insisted on examining his rectum and held him down while he begged, "Please don't do that." He said Persaud hit a doctor while flailing around and staffers gave him an injection, which knocked him out, and performed the rectal exam.

Persaud woke up handcuffed to a bed and with an oxygen tube down his throat, the lawyer said, and spent three days in a detention center.

Marrone said he and Persaud later learned the rectal exam was one way of determining whether he had suffered spinal damage because of the accident.

A request by the hospital to dismiss Persaud's lawsuit was denied by Justice Alice Schlesinger, who ordered a trial to start March 31.

Hospital spokesman Bryan Dotson said, "While it would be inappropriate for us to comment on specifics of the case, we believe it is completely without merit and intend to contest it vigorously."

Marrone said his client "went through hell."

"He has a right to refuse a medical procedure," Marrone said. "The guy was assaulted and arrested for needing stitches."

The lawyer said his unmarried client, who lives in Brooklyn, has not been able to hold a job since the incident.

"He's just not the same psychologically," Marrone said. "He felt like they were trying to rape him."

Saturday, January 19, 2008

The Big Buy - Tom Delay's Stolen Congress

About the ActorMark Birnbaum is a veteran producer, director, editor and cameraman. With partner Jim Schermbeck, Birnbaum is the director/producer of the critically acclaimed documentary Larry v. Lockney, which chronicles Texas cotton farmer Larry Tannahill’s fight against mandatory drug testing in his son's school. The film made its broadcast premiere on the PBS program P.O.V., and will air later this year on LinkTV.

Jim Schermbeck is a native Texan with a life long passion for politics and film. He worked for over two decades as a community organizer, focusing on environmental health issues in the Dallas Fort Worth area. While fighting to keep Dallas free of toxic waste, Schermbeck pursed filmmaking in his spare time and volunteered to work on campaigns for both reform Democratic and Republican candidates.

Product Description"By the time we finish this poker game, there may not be a federal government left! Which would suit me just fine." -Tom DeLay, 1994

In a stunning 1994 interview, shortly after the now infamous Republican revolution, Tom DeLay sat down and laid out his vision for America: to destroy the Department of Education, HUD, OSHA, the NEH, the NEA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. His self-stated goal was to "completely redesign government."

The Big Buy: Tom DeLay's Stolen Congress is the story of how he did just that. It's the story of one of the most blatant power grabs in American history, and how a District Attorney in Texas turned out to be the biggest threat to the national DeLay Machine. The film is a warning about how easy it is for American democracy to be hijacked by a combination of relentless ambition and corporate millions. It makes the case that DeLay built a "custom-made Congress" that is still providing votes for his agenda.

Teaser from DVD:

A bigger tease:

Corporatism, The US Corporations have bought the US Government away from Citizens

Lawyers have no Free Speech Rights

I interview Massachusetts Attorney Barbara Johnson by telephone. She is a former candidate for Mass Governor. Johnson put up a website, telling about what really goes on with judges and in the courts, and judges were so pissed off Barbara was threatened with being disbarred and put in jail if she didn't take down the website.

Judge Jonathan Kaplan goes after lawyers or any other citizens that complains about judges or wants to sue them. It is about retaliation.

It seems that attorneys that actually serve their client against the wishes of the judges, prosecutors, police, and the organized crime figures in the governor's office and legislature, the lawyer can be disbarred and thrown in prison.

Yes, there are political prisoners being held in the US, everyday. I just objected to having prostitutes around, near, and on my property against the wishes of police, more:http://thesrv.blogspot.com/2007/12/pr...

A close reading within an historical context – keeping especially in mind the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and Presidential Executive Orders, pursuant to which the government has engaged in massive surveillance of its own citizens, as well as detentions, extraordinary renditions, assassinations, and torture – leads me to the following conclusions:

This is a "Thought Crime" bill of the type so often discussed in an Orwellian context.

It specifically targets the civilian population of the United States.

It defines "Violent Radicalization" as promoting any belief system that the government considers to be extremist.

"Homegrown Terrorism" and "Violent Radicalization" are defined as thought crimes.

Since the bill does not provide a specific definition of extremist belief system, it will be whatever the government at any given time deems it to be

* * * *

Excerpt of text [found here]:... such as the Credit Rating Agency Reform Act, the Third Higher Education Extension Act, ratification requests for extradition treaties with Malta, Estonia, and Latvia; his proclamation of German-American Day, the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Act; and his proclamation of Leif Erickson Day.

Still, getting the Military Commission’s Act to the president so he could immediately mull it over for two weeks was so important, some members of Congress did not even read the bill before voting on it. Thus, as some of its minutia escaped scrutiny.

One bit of trivia that caught our eye was the elimination of habeas corpus, which apparently use to be the right of anyone who’s tossed in prison to appear in court and say “Hey, why am I in prison?”

OLBERMANN: Why does habeas corpus hate America? And how is it so bad for us? Mr. Bush says it gets in the way of him doing his job.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) Olbermann makes comments between clips of speeches by different politicians below.

BUSH: This legislation passed in the House yesterday is a part of making sure that we do have the capacity to protect you. Our most solemn job is the security of this country.

Monday, January 14, 2008

"Screw the Individual and the Constitution" - The US Supreme Court

Excerpt:On January 4, 2008, the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, in conference, voted to deny the Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the landmark Right-to-Petition case We The People v. United States. On January 7 the Court issued its Order denying certiorari.

Without comment, the Supreme Court decided not to hear We The People v. United States, a case which, if heard, would have required the Court to declare -- for the first time history -- whether the Government is obligated to respond to proper Petitions by ordinary, private individuals for Redress of Grievances - specifically Grievances alleging unconstitutional behavior by the Government, and whether the individual having so Petitioned, has the Right to act to peacefully hold the Government accountable if the Government refuses to respond.

Sleazebag Connecticut Cops continue to bilk taxpayers even after prison

Excerpt:

The amount of money in question could be sizeable. If Kasperzyk were to get a job paying $40,000, his total earnings would be $81,000, including his pension, $20,000 over the cap. If the cap isn’t waived, his pension would be reduced to $21,000. If the cap is waived, he would keep the full amount.

Kasperzyk, a former member of the narcotics squad, was arrested in March along with his boss, Lt. William White, after an eight-month undercover FBI investigation. Within days of their arrests, both filed for retirement. White, 63, a 39-year veteran, was approved for a $91,000 pension on April 12. [found here]

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - Despite talking tough on domestic violence, the Boston Police Department did not fire any of the 11 officers disciplined in the past two years for punching their spouses, striking their children and other violent incidents, a Herald review shows.

The punishments handed down by Police Department brass in those cases include two five-day suspensions, three 30-day suspensions and one 40-day suspension. Of the remaining officers who were investigated, two retired, two resigned and one has a criminal case pending.

“It’s outrageous,” Mary Lauby, executive director of Jane Doe Inc., said of the department’s lack of a zero-tolerance policy against battering cops

“This, again, is something that needs to be taken far more seriously than it is. For someone to have been found through an investigation to have committed acts of domestic violence, seems like that should have warranted a criminal investigation.”

The Police Department’s internal investigations concluded in the past two years showed:

# Sgt. Larry Hobson “struck his wife in the face” during a December 2003 spat; he was suspended for 30 days.

# Officer Lysander Wright assaulted his daughter and “struck her with a large iced tea bottle” in May 2003.

# Officer Frank Williams struck the mother of his child in the face and “pushed her down onto a bed” in March 2004. Williams was suspended for 30 days.

Police Commissioner Edward Davis[Pretty much (very) worthless, lets cops do what they want, like he did as chief in Lowell, MA - BCN], who has been on the job for a little over a year, said a tougher policy has been in place since June 2006 that specifies officers can be fired for domestic violence complaints even if they aren’t found guilty in court.

Davis said only one officer has been punished under the new rules, Lt. Dave Murphy, who received a five-day suspension for allegedly punching his girlfriend off a bar stool in Baltimore. In that case, the victim did not cooperate with the department, Davis said.

But Lauby of Jane Doe didn’t buy that as a valid defense of the department’s policy.

“This entire reliance on victims in order to prosecute, it’s a sham,” she said. “We all know that there is a substantial amount of domestic violence that never reaches anyone’s attention.”

Murphy, whose criminal case resulted in an 18-month probation, but no conviction, was back on duty last night in South Boston. He declined to comment.

“I’d rather not. I do have a side . . . That’s all I can say about it,” he said. “Believe me, the stress has been absolutely intense on me, and I’d rather not say anything.”

In another case, East Boston Detective Eliezer Gonzalez, who was praised in December 2005 for tracking down and rescuing an infant who was the subject of an Amber Alert, was slapped six months later with a 40-day suspension for “abusive and controlling behavior” toward his now ex-wife.

He also was punished for attempting to “deceive” internal affairs detectives.

He said the job puts extreme pressure on cops.

“There was a cross-complaint,” Gonzalez said. “I made a complaint against her, she made a complaint against me. I informed the department what was going on. They brought both parties in. They mediated the dispute. There is no criminal wrongdoing.”

Davis said that after internal affairs detectives complete their investigation, the information is forwarded to the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office. Just one of the 11 cases is still moving through the courts, he said.

[click here] Can police officers get away with allegedly using $10,000 cash in taxpayer dollars to hire police informants to kill citizens that lodge police misconduct complaints? Do officers not get into trouble for murder for hire plots? Can a citizen be arrested and face prison for being stabbed 13 times and waking up alive in the hospital?

ENFIELD, CONNECTICUT - An Enfield police officer who hit a parked car with his pickup truck while off duty in 2005 and left the scene, later admitted to his superiors that he drank 10 beers before the accident, according to recently released documents.

The officer, Timothy Vergean, also admitted that he brought two more beers with him when he left his house for the late-night drive during which the accident occurred.

Moreover, Vergean admitted that when he returned to his Enfield home after the accident, he drank “a couple of beers and a shot” and “started to wipe down the front of the truck.”

Those details emerged from documents compiled during the Enfield Police Department’s internal affairs investigation of the incident.

The Journal Inquirer recently obtained the documents in New Britain Superior Court, where the town of Enfield had filed an appeal to keep them from being released.

The town had appealed a Freedom of Information Commission decision from 2006, directing it to release Vergean’s internal affairs report to the Journal Inquirer.

The transcript of an interview between Vergean and two internal affairs investigators quotes the officer as saying he realized as he wiped down his truck after returning to Enfield that the accident “wasn’t just a little fender bender.”

Vergean said he then drove back to the area in Windsor where it had occurred and parked on Brewster Road, around the corner from the accident scene on Overlook Drive. He said he walked toward the scene to get a look at the damage.

“I saw that there were two Windsor cruisers around it, and I knew that I was caught,” Vergean said in the recorded interview.

But he didn’t turn himself in at that point. He said he ran into the woods, where he stayed for “a little while,” then came out, saw an Enfield police cruiser by his truck, and “walked behind houses, walked towards Enfield.”

Vergean left his truck on Brewster Road, where Windsor police found it and identified it through physical evidence as the one that was probably involved in the hit-and-run accident. They got Vergean’s name through a registration check and asked Enfield police to help locate him.

Vergean said he eventually made his way to a doughnut shop in Windsor or Windsor Locks and, after 15 or 20 minutes, found a stranger to give him a ride.He turned himself in at the Windsor police station around 7:30 that morning, Sept. 2, 2005, roughly seven hours after the accident.

New Britain Superior Court Judge Henry S. Cohn sustained the town’s appeal of the FOI Commission order only to the extent of ordering a few brief passages to be blacked out of the 44 pages of documents before they were made public.The judge said in his four-page decision, issued Nov. 27, that the documents contain “a brief mention of a medical condition.”

He gave the following explanation for his decision to have that material blacked out: “Disclosure of a medical condition may interfere with treatment and affect the subject’s career. … Medical conditions under treatment touch on intimate details that are not matters of public concern.”

Vergean was suspended without pay for 30 days as a result of his conduct in connection with the accident. But Police Chief Carl J. Sferrazza has described Vergean as an “excellent” officer despite the incident.

The judge also directed that “a reference to a rumor” be blacked out of the records. He said the town and the FOI Commission had agreed to that at the hearing held before him on the appeal.

The documents were made public Dec. 20 after the town failed to file paperwork to take the case to the state Appellate Court within the time allowed by law.

Sgt. Lawrence Curtis, who conducted the internal affairs investigation, concluded that Vergean violated the Enfield Police Department’s general orders in three respects:

* “Officer Vergean placed the safety of himself and the public in jeopardy by operating his motor vehicle on the public streets of Connecticut after consuming a large quantity of alcohol,” Curtis wrote.

“By these violations Officer Vergean has failed to recognize his badge of office as a symbol of the public’s faith and trust in the actions of a police officer.”

Curtis concluded that this conduct violated the department’s code of ethics.

* Curtis concluded that Vergean violated the department’s code of conduct both by driving after heavy drinking and by actions that led to charges of “serious violations” of state motor vehicle laws.

Windsor police charged Vergean with evading responsibility and failure to drive in the established lane. He was convicted in a plea bargain on a reduced charge of failure to stop and show a license. He was fined $90.

* Vergean failed to cooperate with Windsor police by leaving the scene of the accident and not contacting police for some seven hours, Curtis concluded.

“By his actions he caused another police agency as well as the Enfield Police Department to spend several hours of manpower in an effort to locate him to determine his well-being,” the sergeant wrote.

Windsor police Sgt. Tammy Medonis said in a recorded interview with Curtis that she was impressed with Vergean’s attitude when he finally did come forward.

“He was very apologetic, was very upset with himself for putting us through all that work,” Medonis said, according to a transcript of the interview.

“He said, ‘I’ve investigated evading accidents myself, and I know how frustrating that is, and I apologize for putting you all through that.’ So I really respected that part of his admittance because it’s so easy to blame someone else and not take the heat, but he was willing to do that.”

Anjo Timmerman, who was then an Enfield police captain and is now the department’s deputy chief, wrote in a memo to the chief, “Vergean is taking accountability for what happened, but I don’t believe he had a whole lot of choice.”

* * * *Donald Christmas talks about Enfield Connecticut Police Officer Timothy Vergean, the officer alleged sleeping with 14 year old prostitutes, harassing and terrorizing citizens, the filing of false police reports, retaliation, and how Vergean still has a secure job working as an Enfield PD:

[click here] for my beef on the Connecticut State Police, their collusion with prostitutes and corrupt Connecticut courts.

Honk to Impeach US President George W. Bush

This is the scene every Friday in Brattleboro, Vermont, Main St. No matter the weather, rain, sleet, snow, there are citizens out with signs asking that Cheney, Bush, and others be impeached, arrested, and prosecuted. There might have been legislation presented and even passed asking for the arrest of Cheney and Bush if they happen up into Vermont.

"Go Fuck Yourself Cheney"

Will International "events" be used to suspend the US Constitution? [more]

Boston, Massachusetts

Robbery rocks BPD

A Hub cop is behind bars after he allegedly pulled his police-issue Glock handgun on the owner of a Roslindale gas station in broad daylight yesterday and demanded he hand over all the cash, police said.

Officer Michael T. Jones, 44, then allegedly fled the scene, but the getaway car was spotted by several witnesses following the brazen 4 p.m. heist. A Roslindale man listening to his scanner heard the description and spotted the vehicle steer onto Canterbury Street, and police closed in.

Cops allegedly found Jones in the driver seat of the car parked in the driveway of the home where the car was registered. Inside the car, cops discovered the handgun allegedly used to commit the robbery, a department-issued .40 caliber gun, as well as clothing that matched the description of the suspect’s outfit.

Jones was placed under arrest, and police said he was positively identified by witnesses as the robber. Jones is being charged with one count of armed robbery, one count of armed assault with intent to rob and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.

“It is reprehensible when an officer violated the law that he is entrusted to uphold and I will not stand for it,” Police Commissioner Edward Davis said.

Jones, a 19-year veteran, is assigned to area E-18 Hyde Park. He called out sick from work Jan. 2 and has not been back on duty since, police said last night. Jones was immediately placed on administrative leave while he sat in a jail cell.

“The internal investigation into this is well under way, and the punishment will be aggressive and certain,” Davis said. “I would like to commend the swift investigative response by Boston Police officers who successfully effected this arrest in less than one hour from the time the incident was reported.”

The US military said video and audio that it released confirmed its allegation that Iranian speedboats harassed US warships and threatened to blow them up in a radio communication.

"I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes," the Iranians said in a radio transmission, according to US officials.

Pentagon officials said the speedboats came within about 200m (650ft) of the US vessels.

US officials have described the actions of the speed boats as dangerous and provocative.

US sailors assumed battle stations and the captain on one of the ships was about to order an attack when the Iranian boats turned away, they said.

On Wednesday the US lodged a formal diplomatic complaint with the Iranian foreign ministry through the Swiss embassy in Tehran.

Doubts

The New York Times noted on Wednesday that the US-released audio includes no ambient noise of the kind that might be expected if the broadcast had come from on one of the speedboats.

Pentagon officials said the voice heard in the video clip is not directly traceable to the Iranian military, but could still have come from a high quality radio on one of the small boats, the paper reported.

Iran described the incident as a routine contact which happens all the time in the crowded waters of the Gulf.

The Pentagon has insisted that the three US vessels - identified as navy cruiser USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham - were in international waters.

The confrontation has further inflamed tensions between arch-foes Iran and the United States.

US President George W Bush is currently on a tour of the Middle East which will tackle what the Americans see as the threat posed by Iran to regional stability.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

The Connecticut Prison System wrecking and snuffing out life

David Mark Tracy, dead for having been caught with $100 of drugs ending up in the custody of Connecticut's abusive and overcrowded prison system

Excerpt: David was only 17 years old when he went to jail for possession of approximately $100 dollars worth of drugs, which were found near but not on him. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and spent fewer than 2 years in a Connecticut prison before he was transferred to the newly-built, and already notorious Wallens Ridge Unit, which sits on an isolated mountain top in Virginia.

Wallens Ridge is staffed by a cadre of racist guards who immediately singled David out for verbal and physical abuse because he associated with people of all races. David wrote home that the guards were always messing with him and had begun spraying women?s perfume into his cell and calling him "nigger lover", "race traitor", "northern scum" and "Connecticut bastard."

Echoing an agreement on criminal justice reforms announced Tuesday by Democrats and Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a sentencing-and-parole task force recommended classifying the burglary of an occupied home in the category of the most serious felonies that carry the stiffest sentences.

But the task force went a step further, calling for creation of a separate crime of home invasion to reflect the nature of the act and its effect on residents' sense of security in their homes.

The recommendation, among dozens made Wednesday by the panel convened by the governor, was one of the few designed to directly address issues raised in the wake of the July 23 home invasion and slayings of members of the Petit family in Cheshire.

It also is one of a handful of task force recommendations that could be relatively quickly implemented if approved by the legislature, which will hold a special session on criminal justice reform late this month.

Prompted by lapses in the system exposed by the Cheshire tragedy [click here for blog post], the governor convened the 17-member task force in August to review the criminal justice system. Two convicts with long criminal histories, who had been released on parole, are charged in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11.

As a Class A felony — the category of the most serious crimes — home invasion would be punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

"We have to set the standard here in the state that we're not going to accept this," said task force member James Kenny, Vernon's police chief.

Under current law, people who illegally enter homes or buildings, whether occupied or unoccupied, are charged with some form of burglary, classified as B, C or D felonies. Burglary, depending on the degree, is punishable by one to 20 years in prison.

The task force's recommendation to up the ante would create a separate crime that applies only to burglaries committed in occupied homes where the perpetrator tries to commit a felony against someone in the home. The proposed home-invasion charge would also apply to burglaries of occupied residences if the burglar is armed with explosives, a deadly weapon or a deadly instrument, such as a Taser.

The task force also made recommendations on several other hot-button reform proposals outlined by the governor Tuesday. The recommendations include hiring four full-time members for the parole board, lessening the strictures of the state's existing persistent-offender law to make it easier to prosecute, improving access to juvenile records, youthful offender and other records and improving notification systems for crime victims.

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Bush calls Iran 'threat to world peace'

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The war of words between United States and Tehran continued Wednesday, with President Bush repeating his assertion that Iran is "a threat to world peace."

President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the airport in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

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The two countries have been trading accusations since a weekend confrontation involving Iranian boats and U.S. Navy warships in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States claims Iranian vessels deliberately sped toward its warships despite warnings to stay away.

Bush's criticism of Iran came Wednesday during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem. Bush is in the region to encourage the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

Bush called the incident "a very dangerous gesture" by Iran and warned the Islamic republic against any escalation.

"We have made it very clear, and they know our position, and that is: There will be serious consequences if they attack our ships, pure and simple."

"My advice to them is: Don't do it."

Earlier in the day, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the Sunday incident in the Strait of Hormuz almost triggered an exchange of fire -- and if it happens again there may be a battle.

The Pentagon released dramatic video of Sunday's encounter, which occurred in the narrow channel critical to the shipment of oil from the Persian Gulf. Iran's navy said the video was faked, according to state-run media.

"It's the kind of incident that can provoke exchange of fire," Hadley said. "And we think the Iranians need to be on notice that they are fishing in troubled waters here."

Hadley, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as Bush headed to Israel, said, "It almost involved an exchange of fire between our forces and Iranian forces," but he stopped short of saying whether the U.S. Navy would have fired the first shots.

"This is not -- this is a provocative act, not a smart thing to do, and they're going to have to take responsibility for the consequences if they do it again," Hadley said.

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Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, commander of the Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet, said the U.S. ships received a "threatening" radio transmission indicating the boats were closing in on the U.S. ships and that the American vessels would "explode." Watch as the confrontation unfolds »

No shots were fired, and no one was hurt in the incident, which lasted about 20 minutes, the Defense Department said.

It began as the USS Port Royal, USS Hopper and USS Ingraham were traveling in formation after having finished a routine transit through the strait, the Navy said.

Five boats, suspected to be from the Islamic Republic of Iran Revolutionary Guard Navy, "maneuvered aggressively in close proximity of the Hopper," the Navy said in a posting on its Web site.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon released a four-minute, 20-second videotape shot from the bridge of the USS Hopper showing five fast boats racing back and forth near the convoy.

An unidentified Navy crew member says over the radio: "This is coalition warship. I am engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law. I intend no harm. Over."

The boats continued to race through the water even as the U.S. warship repeatedly sounded its horns.

"I am coming to you," a deep, thickly accented voice says in English over the radio.

To that, an unidentified sailor aboard the Hopper, speaking into a radio, asks the boats to identify themselves and steer clear.

"Inbound small craft: You are approaching a coalition warship operating in international waters. Your identity is not known; your intentions are unclear," he says.

"You may be subject to defensive measures. Request that you establish communications now or alter your course immediately to remain clear."

Immediately afterward, an accented voice says, "You will explode in a few minutes."

It was not clear, however, that the voice was coming from any of the boats, said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, the 5th Fleet spokeswoman in Bahrain. It could have come from another ship in the area or from shore, she said.

"We don't have a direct connection, but it's not necessarily a disconnect," she said.

Nor was it clear that the boats indeed belonged to the Revolutionary Guard Navy, she acknowledged. "We believe they are," she said, adding that "at least one had an Iranian flag."

But Chris Madden, the Navy's visual news director, said no Iranian flags were visible in the video.

Robertson said estimates of the boats' nearest proximity to the warships range from 200 to 500 yards. She called the fast boats' actions "unsafe, unnecessary and unprofessional."

Though the video does not show it, at least one of the boats dropped about five or six objects that looked like boxes into the water, where they floated, Robertson said.

The U.S. naval commanders did not pick them up "because they did not know what they were," she said.

Iran's state-run Press TV quoted a spokesman for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy as saying Wednesday that the video "had been compiled using file pictures and the audio had been fabricated."

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman downplayed the incident, calling it "normal," state-run news agency IRNA reported. "The case ... was similar to the past ones and it was a regular and natural issue," Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said, according to the news agency.E-mail to a friend